Italy's highest court has ordered a retrial for Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito over the 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher. / Giuseppe Bellini, Getty Images

by Douglas Preston , USA TODAY

by Douglas Preston , USA TODAY

Amanda Knox might have thought her long nightmare was over when her conviction for the murder in 2007 of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was overturned in 2011. But this week Italy's Court of Cassation ordered her to be retried. Welcome to the Italian criminal justice system.

On what basis her acquittal was reversed will not be known until the court publishes its explanation within 90 days. All we know is that the new trial will take place in Florence, not Perugia where the murder took place, and it will address certain (again as yet unknown) points of law. It will probably not take place until October, and may last another year or more, with more appeals and reviews possible. Knox was 20 when she was charged with the killing.

Death of a roommate

Knox's long legal journey began on Nov. 6, 2007 when she and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested in the killing of her roommate. They were held in jailfor a year before being charged. They were convicted in late 2009 in a trial that lasted another year. Their appeal took two more years. The court of appeals acquitted them of murder in 2011, and they were released after spending 1,428 days in prison. As Knox returned home to Seattle, Italian prosecutors appealed the verdict to the Corte Suprema di Cassazione. This week the court vacated the acquittal and ordered a new trial.

Unfortunately, Knox's experience is not unique. In fact, approximately 50% of all criminal convictions in Italy are modified or reversed on appeal, leaving many ruined lives. Trials take years, judges sit on juries and tell them what to decide,juries are not sequestered, and prosecutors and police routinely violate judicial seal, that no information can be released about a person being officially investigated for a crime. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been wrong about many things, but he recently aptly noted: "Ours is not a democracy, but a dictatorship of the judges."

The power of face

So what's going on with this latest Knox verdict? It is essentially a prosecutorial face-saving effort. Most Americans cannot even begin to comprehend the deep and pervasive power of face, la faccia, in Italian culture. Four days after the murder, before the crime scene had been analyzed, police and prosecutors announced they had arrested the three killers -- Knox, her boyfriend, and a third man. Over the following weeks, as the crime scene was analyzed, they realized that not one speck of Knox's DNA could be found at the crime scene. Instead they discovered the DNA of an unknown fourth person everywhere, including inside the victim. He was soon identified as a drifter and drug dealer named Rudy Guede, who had fled the country.

In the United States, the prosecutor and police would more likely have admitted their mistake, released Knox and Sollecito and arrested Guede. But not in Italy, where to do so would involve a catastrophic loss of face. Instead, they went to great lengths to yoke Guede, Knox and Sollecito in a murderous conspiracy. This is why a year passed before Knox was charged with murder: that was how long it took to "develop" the evidence against her. This last verdict is one more step in the face-saving process.

Niccolo' Capponi, a distinguished Florentine historian, who is deeply knowledgeable about the workings of the judiciary, told me this new decision is "a case of dare un colpo al cerchio ed uno alla botte" -- give a blow to the ring and one to the barrel. In other words, to satisfy everyone. Yes, the prosecution would get their retrial, but only on certain points. And the trial was moved to Florence, a decidedly unfriendly venue for the prosecution team, where Knox has the best chance of being acquitted.

Knox is not required to be present at her retrial. If she is convicted and the Italians try to extradite her, the State Department will likely refuse, on the basis of the double jeopardy clause in our Constitution.

Many Italians are well aware that their judicial system is dysfunctional. The Italian judiciary is a holdover from the Benito Mussolini era, when Italy was a police state. If you're arrested for a crime in Italy, unless you can prove your innocence, you are in serious trouble indeed. The honor of police and prosecutors must be upheld, and the system is heavily biased against the accused. This latest decision to retry Knox was more about the saving of face than about finding the truth.

Douglas Preston is the co-author, with Mario Spezi, of The Monster of Florence, to be published on April 23 with a new Afterword on the Amanda Knox case.

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